And reminding our readers. Not finishing and getting cut are not the same thing. With a new and smaller chapter, some girls may have not have been willing to accept the invitation they were offered. Maybe with a little perspective they will be more willing to rethink their options. The chapter is definitely on a growth trajectory; they just need to have a little faith.

__________________"Traveling - It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. ~ Ibn Battuta

What I heard from a chapter sister who serves on the House Corporation Board is that many girls dropped after the first day, which is before they would even have seen all of the chapter houses. RFM does not help retention numbers when girls drop out early in the game because they decided not to rush after all, just wanted to move in early and be on campus, or in later rounds because they don't like their invitations or because they registered with sketchy grades and were cut heavily and decided to drop.

One chapter did not reach quota, the rest of the chapters were at or above quota with quota additions.

+1 (actually more like + a million) to everything Katmandu has written in this thread. Nailed it. My thoughts exactly.

Retention rate =/= placement rate.. After first round, cuts for grades. Later in the week, PNM drops due to factors such as "not getting the houses I liked/think I deserve/are the perceived top houses/only here to party early/blah blah blah" etc.

Actually, if you look at the PNMs who attended preference, 97% were matched to a group. That is pretty remarkable because they have a three party preference and it is hard to match quota additions with a three party pref. In order to be eligible to be a quota addition, if the PNM went to three parties, she has to list three on her bid card or she isn't eligible to be a quota addition. Almost all groups received quota additions. They did not have many PNMs dropping after the first round. The PNM did drop in large numbers in the last two rounds... and at that point it is due to them not getting the houses they wanted. :-(